Gov’t Not Closing Banks Deliberately

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has dismissed claims that the government is deliberately closing down some financial institutions in the country to bring hardship to the people.

Some 23 savings and loans companies were shut down by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) last week after becoming insolvent, and some opponents of the government is going about claiming the NPP government is deliberately targeting the affected institutions.

Addressing the media yesterday, Mr. Nkrumah said the argument that government was deliberately closing down businesses was incoherent.

That, he said, was because the Akufo-Addo’s administration has promised Ghanaians jobs, growth in the economy and income, and as such cannot take decisions that would deliberately lead to loss of jobs.

He said government was mindful of the fact that it has to render account to Ghanaians on the number of jobs it has created, the level of growth it has achieved and income levels.

“This is an administration that is promising jobs, growth, income for people,” he averred.

“Why will such an administration be interested in deliberately closing down people’s businesses when it knows in the end it will have to account for how many jobs has been created?” he asked.

Touching on the rationale for the Central Bank’s action and its impact on the country, Mr. Nkrumah stated that “I think broadly for us as a government, the view is that as we continue to work to grow the economy and create expansion in many other aspects of the economy, all Ghanaians who are in search of jobs regardless of how the particular organisation in which they were working turned, they should be able to find some economic space.”

He added that the obligation of the state when the BoG did its assessment was to underwrite the clean-up.

BY Melvin Tarlue